On Thursday, Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) called for Congress to take away Disney’s “copyright protections” and Major League Baseball’s (MLB) “longstanding antitrust exemption.”
In an opinion piece for Fox News titled “It’s time to end economic handouts for woke corporations,” Hawley wrote that “today’s multinationals have embraced a toxic blend of offshoring and woke politics, selling out American workers even as they attack American values.”
“Over the years Disney’s copyright protections for characters like Mickey Mouse have been extended further and further into the future, allowing the company to maintain a stranglehold on its ever-increasing intellectual property stockpile,” he wrote. “Disney specifically asked Congress for more protections. As Disney doubles down on its hostility to American values, it’s time to start paring those protections back.”
“Similarly, Major League Baseball—which was all too happy to try to bully the State of Georgia over its election integrity laws—should lose its longstanding antitrust exemption, which no other industry enjoys in the same way,” Hawley added. “And while we’re revising our antitrust laws, we should make clear that the very largest firms should face a flat ban on further acquisitions. No more conglomerate mergers giving a handful of multinational firms unprecedented power over Americans’ jobs and lives.”
Hawley also targeted Big Tech companies, saying, “And of course, Section 230—stretched far beyond its original design—has shielded Big Tech companies from legal liability for far too long. It should be drastically reformed or repealed entirely. Big Tech doesn’t need a handout—it can afford to operate on a level playing field with everyone else.”
Earlier this week, Hawley introduced the Copyright Clause Restoration Act, a bill designed to “strip woke corporations like Disney of special copyright protections. Senator Hawley’s bill would limit new copyright protections to 56 years and make the change retroactive for massive corporations like Disney that have been granted unnecessarily long copyright monopolies,” Hawley’s office explained in a press release.
“The age of Republican handouts to Big Business is over,” Hawley said. “Thanks to special copyright protections from Congress, woke corporations like Disney have earned billions while increasingly pandering to woke activists. It’s time to take away Disney’s special privileges and open up a new era of creativity and innovation.”
